# Ansible Split JSON Return **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [March 5, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-split-json-return/32392 "2020-03-05T14:52:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![David\_Foley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@David\_Foley](https://forum.ansible.com/u/David_Foley)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-split-json-return/32392/1 "2020-03-05T14:52:52Z")
Have the Following Playbook Which Returns the following ok: [localhost] =\> { “mdb.json”: [ { “mac-address”: “xx:xx:xx:xx:xx” } ] } ---
**Author:** ![Cade\_Lambert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@Cade\_Lambert](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Cade_Lambert)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-split-json-return/32392/2 "2020-03-05T15:28:54Z")
Something like this would work I believe: “{{ mdb.json.split(‘:’)[1:6] | join(‘:’) }}” Also, could you not just reference it directly by using “{{ mdb.json.mac-address }}”? ---
**Author:** ![David\_Foley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@David\_Foley](https://forum.ansible.com/u/David_Foley)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 3:34pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-split-json-return/32392/3 "2020-03-05T15:34:40Z")
When i do Both “{{ mdb.json.mac-address }}” “{{ mdb.json.split(‘:’)[1:6] | join(‘:’) }}” It returns fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! =\> {“msg”: “The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: ‘list object’ has no attribute ‘mac’\n\nThe error appears to be in ‘/srv/Ansible/mdb.yaml’: line 8, column 5, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n register: mdb\n - debug:\n ^ here\n”} fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! =\> {“msg”: “The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: ‘list object’ has no attribute ‘split’\n\nThe error appears to be in ‘/srv/Ansible/mdb.yaml’: line 8, column 5, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n register: mdb\n - debug:\n ^ here\n”} ---
**Author:** ![Cade\_Lambert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@Cade\_Lambert](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Cade_Lambert)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 3:39pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-split-json-return/32392/4 "2020-03-05T15:39:34Z")
What’s your plabook look like? You’ll probably have to loop through your JSON results as it looks like it’s a list. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Foley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@David\_Foley](https://forum.ansible.com/u/David_Foley)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-split-json-return/32392/5 "2020-03-05T15:45:03Z")
---
**Author:** ![Cade\_Lambert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@Cade\_Lambert](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Cade_Lambert)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 3:55pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-split-json-return/32392/6 "2020-03-05T15:55:36Z")
Ok, try this then: - debug: msg: “{{ item.mac-address }}” loop: “{{ mdb.json }}” ---
**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 8:47pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-split-json-return/32392/7 "2020-03-05T20:47:55Z")
> Have the Following Playbook Which Returns the following > > ok: [localhost] =\> { >     "mdb.json": [ The [ is telling us that mdb.json is a list, the fist element in a list i 0. >         { >             "mac-address": "xx:xx:xx:xx:xx" >         } >     ] > } \ >   - debug: >       msg: "{{ mdb.json.split(':') }}" > > What i would like to Return is just > > "msg": "xx:xx:xx:xx:xx" That would be {{ mdb.json.0['mac-address'] }} because of the dash in mac-address you need to use notation and not the dot notation on that one. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Foley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@David\_Foley](https://forum.ansible.com/u/David_Foley)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 1:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-split-json-return/32392/8 "2020-03-06T13:38:03Z")
Thanks Kai, that worked i was also able to Split(‘-’)[0] and that only outputted the xxx:xxx:xxx:xx just what i was looking for.